


Midnight Mother, Cinnabar Children

by Crowsister



Series: Deviations From the Plan [1]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Massive Headcanons Ahoy, Other, Spoilers for Silver Grove, Worldbuilding, spoilers for second dream
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowsister/pseuds/Crowsister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A novelization of the Warframe Sidequest, Silver Grove.<br/>In which Operator Cecilia gets a Message, Cephalon Simaris is Fussy™, and a Truth is unearthed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Mother, Cinnabar Children

**Author's Note:**

> Felt like messing with the Warframe world a bit, rolled about in it like a happy pig. Thank Gods that the Wiki has a transcript of the quest, you have the Wiki to thank for accurate in-game dialogue on top of my poking at it with a primitive stick.

“Willow’s Daughter Amaryn. We have the report from the outpost that you have requested.”

Amaryn looked over her shoulder from her work. Forms to be filled out upon the work done with Tenno volunteers as well as the variety of the pure Children of the New Loka putting in suggestions for her and the rest of the Council to look over. Being the public Child of the Council was her life’s work, but it also placed her in the closest the Children had to a leader.

It was not an easy job. It was not a tasteful job, in some aspects. But for Mother Nature, for the new world, the New Loka, Amaryn would undergo all tasks set upon her.

She reached out her hand. “Thank you, brother. I appreciate the work you’ve done for me, these last few days, and for your silence about the matter.”

“For Mother, I will give everything.”

“For Mother, we now must wait.”

* * *

“Operator Cecilia?”

Cecilia’s preferred Warframe for day-to-day monitoring of her Foundry and Codex, the Ivara model she dubbed Cloak, moved from the modified Codex stand and looked to the right in order the acknowledge the Cephalon on her HUD.

“Yes, Cephalon Simaris?” The voice came from two places at once — the back of the Scimitar ship and from the Ivara model. “Is there something you require?”

“The data you returned with from the Grineer outpost is…irregular from the expected information. Rather than a list of sighted Tenno, it is a message.” Cecilia felt herself smile on one body as the Cephalon made a noise of irritation.

“Never one for surprises, are you, Simaris?”

“Nonsense, there is just a distinction. A categorization between good surprises of new information and new targets for the Sanctuary, things and events of that nature, and _annoyances_ , Operator. I was rather hoping to find Ordis and his excuse of an Operator, if only to save a fellow Cephalon from whatever troubles they’ve gotten into. Instead, we’ve been mislead into a _distraction_ at least and a _trap_ at most.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would peg you as concerned for Ordis, Fyodor, and myself. If it assures the concern that you will insist that I am _imagining_ , Fyodor is very skilled at what he is good for. You just don’t see much usage for what he’s skilled at. He will defend Ordis with utmost energy and focus if there is danger to him in specific.” She chuckled. “As for me, I am a slippery Tenno. Not even my clan-mates can keep an eye on me for long and one of them mains Loki Prime.”

“You surround yourself with narrowminded idiots of war. Operator Vernon is an assassin at best, Operator Kagu is a necrophiliac warmonger, Operator Izanami is a greedy Corpus drone in a Tenno’s body, and Operator Fyodor is a demolition unit with no-”

Cecilia cleared her throat. “I’d prefer you not continue that line of thought. If not for Fyodor, we would not have met and have advanced the Sanctuary as far as we have. The others shield me during extractions of both sentient and non-sentient samples. They have their uses.”

Simaris snorted. “This is factually true, yes.”

“If not for Fyodor, I would not be alive now.”

“I never argued otherwise.”

“I’m glad we can agree on that much, in any case. Now, who went to such lengths to leave a message amongst a Grineer database?”

“I have transferred the message’s data to your inbox, Operator.”

Cecilia snorted herself. Her Cephalon was being ornery, so she could only assume he thought her in some direct danger and was trying to indirectly argue her out of heading further into it. That and he _hated_ when their focus was directed elsewhere from their agreed objectives, which gave Cecilia the impression that this message was, as Vernon would say, _juicy_ enough to tempt her off the trail of Fyodor and Ordis.

She opened her inbox, folding Cloak’s hands together as she shifted through messages. A variety of her informants — Steel Meridian colonists, Cephalon Suda’s volunteers, Hexis’s solitary warriors — giving her a variety of tips and leads, more information from her feelers. It wouldn’t hurt to give Simaris time in sorting through all the leads and rumors about Ordis and Fyodor’s location, so a mystery to keep herself occupied wouldn’t be that uncalled for.

Cecilia opened the newest one from a sender named Amaryn. She was surprised to see the woman, who usually sent her death threats on a daily basis due to her work with Suda and Simaris, speaking to her in a tone that didn’t ooze toxicity.

“Tenno Sister of Crows, I am the Willow’s Daughter Amaryn of New Loka. Whatever differences we may have had in the past are now put on pause. I come to you with a proposal for a joint operation of preservation, which is what you say is the true mission of your existence, the preservation of knowledge. Meet me at the New Loka meeting room of the Kronia Relay and I shall discuss the more sensitive details of the operation with you in person.” Amaryn bowed her head, the video transmission cutting out.

“Please tell me you’re not considering it,” Simaris replied. “Considering the proposal of that narrowminded _witch_ who spits on all Cephalon kind on a daily basis?”

“I’ll have to hear more of her proposal before I consider it,” Cecilia replied. “It depends on what kind of preservation she wishes to discuss. In any case, perhaps I could persuade a lift on the distracting death squads that the New Loka send after me.”

“Some days, I ponder why we are partners.”

“You must keep coming to the same conclusion then, if you haven’t seriously requested to leave.”

* * *

Cloak entered the relay, Vernon’s Dagger somewhere behind her.

“You can’t just-”

“I am.”

“But they-”

“I know.”

“If they attack, Cloak’s so fragile, it’ll _hurt_ -”

“Then I’m sure we can arrange for New Loka to be assaulted by our clan of Uninvited Guests, now can't we?”

“Crow!”

Cloak spun, stabbing a finger and hitting an invisible wall. The Loki Prime unit materialized at the end of her finger, green metallic pieces glittering in the light of the Relay where Cloak’s dark blue matte provided a sheer contrast in the appearances of the two Warframes that only mirrored the personality differences of the Tenno that piloted them.

“Slayer, you will _listen_ to me,” Cecilia muttered. “I appreciate your concern. I do not appreciate the continued lack of _faith_ in my abilities on the basis of your _prejudice_ about Warframes I prefer to use.”

“Ivaras are fragile! So are Embers!”

“I took care of myself long before I was partnered with you on a data retrieval mission for Cephalon Suda. I will continue to do so, with or without your help. I asked you here today so that we don’t have two Tenno of the Uninvited Guests MIA. If I go down due to a trap by New Loka, you will know about it and you will _avenge_ my _fragile_ Ivara.” She stabbed into Dagger’s chest again with her finger, striving for eye contact she would never achieve since Warframes had no actual eyes. “Now. I am _going_. I have already argued with my Cephalon, I will not continue to argue with you. Are you the Dagger to my Cloak or not?”

The Loki Prime’s chest heaved in a large sigh, even though there was no air that was output by them. Cecilia held Cloak still, keeping the anxious shaking to her Transference pod.

She relaxed when Dagger took Cloak’s hand, palm meeting palm and fingers curling lightly around knuckles.

They grumbled, “I’ll always be the Dagger to your Cloak, you stubborn, naïve, little idiot. But I get to tell you I told you so when this all blows up.”

“You have the right to do so after Cephalon Simaris does so,” Cecilia replied, “and not a second before him or before he’s done.”

“Whatever, glass-ass. I get my turn.”

“That you do, Slayer. You’ve got my word for that.”

Cloak turned around, walking to the left wing of the relay and Cecilia imagined Dagger’s footsteps behind her as a comfort. She entered the door to the New Loka meeting room. It was a pool of water for a floor, a twisting forest taking over the golden Orokin technology inlaid in the walls. A holographic projection of Earth hung from the wall, its light a milky white to accompany the gold lights flickering around the room in artistic, near nonsensical ways. Sources told her that there were usually a few “Children of Mother Nature” meditating throughout the dry parts of the room, but the room was empty except for Amaryn, who floated an inch or so above the water. Cecilia pondered for a short second how she was doing such a thing, but focused.

“Willow’s Daughter Amaryn, you went through a lot of channels to get my attention,” Cecilia replied, “you have it.”

“Thank you, Tenno Sister of Crows. I know we have had differences in the past, but I am willing to overlook them if you help me with a secret operation.”

Cloak crossed her arms, her right hand going to the side of her head. “That’s rather kind of you, considering I typically struck out of self defense since the first death squad you sent after me.”

“We hold Cephalon Suda to be the opposite of true progress and all those allied with her-”

“I understand. I don’t agree, but I am entirely aware of your beliefs in regard to Cephalons. I was lectured on them by my own Cephalon before attending this meeting. Though, I’m afraid if you wish to propose I assassinate a Cephalon for you, I should have you know that I am not an assassin and especially not one of Cephalons.”

Amaryn barked a laugh, shaking her head and floating as she “walked” deeper into the room. “No. I did not want you for an assassin, but as the scholar you claim to be. A sacred site to the New Loka is in peril and needs preservation.”

“Why not ask one of the Tenno allied to you for such a defensive task?” Cloak uncrossed her arms, not moving from her position closer to the door. “You must have-”

“This is not a matter I’d trust to them. Typically, I keep Tenno far away from our sacred sites and even unknowing our most secret rites. I do not want Mother Nature and the New Loka to follow the footsteps of the Orokin in being betrayed.”

Cloak tilted her head, the faux feathers in her cap bouncing lightly with the action. “I doubt such a thing would happen, but on paper we’re enemies so perhaps my word would not assure such worries.”

“Indeed. In any case, when I turn to Tenno, typically it’s because I want a public show of strength. Thus, the Tenno I have on hand are not as subtle as you have shown to be.”

“To be fair, one of the weapons you showcase as a reward is a shotgun. This does not encourage subtlety, Willow’s Daughter.”

Amaryn snorted, seeming to tap at some control panel Cecilia couldn’t quite see through Cloak’s positioning. “I suppose not, but I would argue Suda’s Simulor is no better.”

“I never argued that those working for Suda were any better. I just know that I am subtle because an enemy is much easier to deal with when they are unsuspecting. My policy is to treat everyone with kindness until they prove unworthy of otherwise, as they’ll come to expect kindness and are blind to any sort of retribution.”

“Those that have dealt with your Cinder have said otherwise.”

Cecilia let herself chuckle. “Different Warframes for different kinds of kindness. I’ll decide what Warframe to use for this operation upon gauging the type of opposition. Who is threatening your sacred site? Not Suda, I know that much.”

“Do you know of the Silver Grove, Earth's oldest and most pure forest?”

Cloak shook her head, not moving beyond that.

Amaryn nodded, continuing to tap at the control panel. “It is home to our most sacred Shrine. We've learned that the Grineer, those twisted abominations, are planning to build a factory on it. Grineer Scorch units have been deployed, intent on turning our blessed Silver Grove to ash.” The holographic projection changed, showing an almost untouched forest so thick and overgrown that it near took Cecilia’s breath away. But she noticed the boxes of construction equipment, easily identifying the Grineer script on them even from such a small image.

Cloak finally took a step forward as the holographic projection lowered down to the ground, tracing along the Grineer boxes. “I see that you are being quite sincere about this.”

“Yes.” The amount of constrained anger in Amaryn’s voice caused Cloak to look back at Amaryn, seeing her fold her hands together as she “walked” back to the holoprojection. Amaryn’s knuckles were white and she could see Amaryn’s nails digging into the spaces between her knuckles. “They wish to burn down the forest and build one of their twisted flesh factories in its place. This cannot be allowed to happen.”

“Your proposal does not include a simple extermination mission. If that was the case, I would not have been contacted.”

“Generations ago, we recovered an apothic recipe at the Shrine. We believe it will reawaken the forest’s legendary defenses. Gather the ingredients and deliver the apothic to the heart of the Shrine. You are the only hope for the Silver Grove and the natural purity it represents.”

Cecilia hummed, moving Cloak’s fingers along the trail of a moving Grineer soldier. “I see.”

“Your reward is that I will remove you from our list of enemies. You will have access to the Silver Grove for small samples for Simaris’s Sanctuary.”

“For a place, I will not even need to take the smallest of vines for the Sanctuary. Simaris and I have refined the scanner to be able to take all data through visual scans, for exactly the purpose of not tampering with the original. We are not as brutish as we let the rumors make us appear in taking samples for Sanctuary.”

“Excellent. Then perhaps-”

“You need not bribe me, Daughter of the Willow. Removing me from the list of those you send death squads after is enough, but preserving such a site…a place immune to Orokin tinkering is fascinating on its own, given that they’ve terroformed the entirety of the System. Defending this Silver Grove so that it may be replicated through the entirety of Earth is the only other bribe I need.” Cecilia chuckled. “It would be lovely to be able to take samples without having to look over my shoulder for a New Loka death squad.”

Amaryn paused a moment, Cecilia feeling her stare hit Cloak hard. “You’ll have to forgive me for being so surprised at your eager cooperation and similar beliefs.”

“Willow’s Daughter Amaryn, you are not the only one who weeps at the destruction the Grineer have wrought to Earth’s forests. Indeed, if I were to call any environment my home…” Cloak’s finger traced along with one of the spiraling roots of a tree, her voice growing quiet. “I would say my spirit lies in the trees of Earth. I do not call myself Sister of Crows lightly, Willow’s Daughter. I ache for a proper roost in the trees of Earth.”

“Then we are siblings in this matter.”

Cloak extended a hand towards her, slowly with the grace of a kata. Amaryn slowly took it with the same amount of grace, a soft relieved smile on her face. They slowly shook hands, bowing to each other.

* * *

“With every day, I ponder why I’m here setting a subroutine of my consciousness to piloting and maintaining this ship. I simply think that my processes have degraded enough that I am technically dead and this is my eternal punishment as I go mad.”

Cloak moved as she returned to the ship from the last excursion on Ceres. Cecilia’s voice bounced about the ship, clearly amused at her Cephalon’s complaints. “Oh, shush Simaris. It is a two in one operation. This keeps me busy as you decipher through the information being siphoned to me through our contacts. This gives me an excuse to take scans of plant life we never had the resources to track down for the Sanctuary. _And_ this will remove me from New Loka’s death list. I fail to see the downsides.”

Simaris huffed, the ship’s lights flickering momentarily. Cecilia had to hide a giggle at how emotive Simaris had gotten in their time together. “You’re making the equivalent of a bouquet, just in the most simple chemical format. You may as well not waste your time with the foundry, I can craft you a mortar and pestle and you can go the old fashioned primitive route! You can match your witch friend!”

Cecilia hummed, Cloak’s hand going to her “chin”. “I wonder-”

“No.” Cecilia almost laughed at the barely masked panic in Simaris’s tone. “ _No_ , you are not allowed to finish that sentence!”

“But it is a sincere inquiry! If mixing the apothic into a paste-”

“No, I refuse to have that slop fall onto the floor! The kavat is already enough of a problem, I am not sincerely entertaining that line of thought!”

Cecilia turned Cloak’s attention to Chance, the black and gold kavat curled up underneath the Codex panel. It raised then laid its head back down in a bored manner. “You have to admit, Chance is better than me having Phantom or Quiet out.”

“At least the kubrows listened to me when I said no! It was entirely satisfying watching your war dogs deflate because I called them bad! The kavat doesn’t care a singular lick!”

“And that’s why he's out and I use him all the time. That and I rather like having more rare resources than I know what to do with,” Cecilia replied. “Leaves less time to be distracted by having to go rob someone of a resource when Chance is already doing it for me while I’m doing something else.”

Simaris only snorted at her reasoning, muttering, “You’re lucky that I am far too attached to actually leave.”

“I heard that.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course,” she replied, Cloak shaking her head. “In any case, I’m done with grabbing the Dusklight Sarracenia samples I need for the Nightfall Apothic as well as extras for both the Sanctuary and my own purposes.”

Simaris paused. Cecilia wondered what he was stewing about, but didn’t let that pause her at least. She set the apothic to craft at the Foundry, moving to the Codex to organize the new plant sample in the remote Sanctuary set up connected to the Scimitar. Cecilia input the data in with the Threshcones and the Jadeleaves in the category of herbal plants, making a note to test if there was a potential usage for antitoxins-

“…thank you for at least remembering Sanctuary during this diversion.”

The show of gratitude made Cecilia pause, touching the wall of the ship gently. “Of course, Simaris. I know how important it is to you and I know it pains you to have a part of yourself away from its management. If it cheers you up, we get free scans of this super forest when we’re done saving it.”

“…you did say that it was a genetic anomaly of some sort…”

Cecilia smiled, chuckling. “Yes I did. It’s resistant to Orokin landscaping and houses an environment surprisingly similar to Pre-Orokin tinkering…I’ll be given access to it once it’s restored and Amaryn says there’s some very rare organisms inside that they’ve still yet to study…not even Suda’s gotten a glance yet-”

“You don’t have to bribe me, you little conniving wrench,” Simaris growled, but Cecilia could read his pleased tone hidden amongst the growling from a mile away. Experience gave her that much. “Save the forest. Then we are going to find Ordis and his operator and then we are going to make them stand guard while you take samples for hours on end for all the troubles they’ve given us in finding them!”

“I’ll consider that approach,” Cecilia laughed, “but yes. I suppose they’ll owe us for finding them. You just continue shifting through-”

“The garbage, yes. Before you get upset with me, I’m forwarding a few things to the other Tenno in your clan. I’m sure Operators Clarimonde and Fyodor will enjoy saving a few Steel Meridian settlements.”

“That’s surprisingly considerate of you.”

“Just because I don’t like them all that much doesn't mean I don’t know what they’re like. Brutish paladin types, they’ll end up dead due to their own desire to serve some abstract definition of good!” Simaris snorted. “I’m so glad you’re not like them. You’re sensible.”

“False,” she teased, “I have _you_ to be sensible for me. Like a father of ancient myth.”

“Bah! I should eject you for having such disrespect, this is a business relationship,” he grumbled.

Cecilia still smiled in her Transference pod, feeling the corners of her eyes crinkle from a mixture of sleepiness and how much she was smiling. “Of course. How foolish of me to suggest otherwise.”

“In _deed_. Now go contact Amaryn, I can’t read minds for the coordinates of this mystical Shrine of hers!”

* * *

Amaryn’s voice crooned in Cloak’s communication channel as she exited the Scimitar, slowly dropping down into a bed of moss.

“Ah, the Silver Grove,” Amaryn muttered reverently, “Can you feel the purity? Beyond, all is contaminated; toxic.” Cloak moved forward, blending into the environment and stalking through the depths of the forest. Amaryn continued with a deep, quiet tone, “But here, everything is pure, original. That's why your mission is so important. Can we risk losing this?”

“I believe we’ve already answered this, Daughter of the Willow,” Cecilia replied, keeping her voice purely to the com. channel and muting the speaker on Cloak’s body. “We cannot. Such an anomaly should be the default, even if we believe thus for different reasons.”

Amaryn was quiet a moment, but Cecilia could see there was sound coming from her end. Cecilia turned up the audio from Amaryn’s end as Cloak moved, removing Grineer threats with a few well placed arrows. Cecilia’s trust in Cloak’s abilities allowed her to multitask to this extent.

Cecilia’s audio-mixing brought to light the small mantra Amaryn was muttering. “Silver Grove, forgive this Warframe on your sacred soil. By water, by sky, by holy humanity, bless our mission to defend you. Silver Grove, forgive this-”

“Willow’s Daughter Amaryn, is there something you’d like to discuss about my being here?” Cecilia asked, letting the voice filter on her voice drop a few octaves.

Cecilia watched Amaryn snap to attention on the video feed, looking almost…sheepish. Sheepish hidden behind several layers of calm, neutrality, disgust, guilt, and shame. “No disrespect, Tenno, but I had to ask forgiveness from the Grove. Carrying out this mission with a Warframe is a bit of a...contradiction for us.”

“I understand. But I believe that if you saw another path to take, you would have taken it.” Cecilia brought the octaves up a bit, letting her voice sound light and childish for a moment as Cloak set up the tripwire across a ravine made between the trees. “We’ll do this as gently as possible. You’ve got my promise on that.”

“Thank you, Tenno Crow’s Sister. I appreciate the gesture, even if I can’t bring myself to not feel guilty about the intrusion.”

Cecilia didn’t know how to feel about Amaryn changing the order of her title. The Tenno of the Naramon School had a format to create their working titles: something of something else. It was to represent that one thing was made of something else, similar to how the tree that represented the way of the Naramon was simultaneously a seed. A student was always growing with new knowledge, being simultaneously the tree and the seed all in one motion. Other schools of Focus had their own ways of going about titles, but Cecilia had no insights into that vein.

What she did know was that Amaryn changed her title to sound similar to her own, which was something Cecilia herself did to show Amaryn respect — that they were the same, something of something else. A Sister of Crows and a Daughter of the Willow — both relatives of a part of nature, a piece not quite a whole, both of them were part of the same ecosystem. She wondered if Amaryn was slipping and beginning to do the same for her, but that may have been giving the narrowminded cultist too much credit given her thinly veiled belief that the Tenno were an abomination of Orokin tinkering — hence her begging the forgiveness of a non-sentient entity (a forest no less!) for forgiveness that _such_ an abomination lend a helping hand.

The conversation waned between Amaryn and Cecilia, leaving Cecilia to focus upon Cloak’s weaving through the roots, vines, and small fires (which Cloak put out, plucking the embers and enduring the pain of the flames against Cloak’s hands and taking the burning sticks and leaves to the river to drench. Cloak would take breaks from this action to take out the Grineer Scorch units with a single arrow each, with one highlight of a shot where she impaled five Grineer upon one Prisma arrow.

“Our Shrine is nearby. Search around, I'll let you know when I can feel its energy,” Amaryn replied, cutting Cecilia from her battle meditation and the peace between each twang of the arrow. Cecilia didn’t answer, instead choosing to continue on the path. It almost felt like she was being lead by the forest itself — where the Grineer would get stuck at a winding river moving too fast for them to cross by foot with the canopy too low for their Hellion units to fly safely across, but with a small natural crawl space in said canopy above them that made for a perfect sniping location.

Cecilia muted herself in the communication channel with Amaryn, noting to Simaris, “Something is amiss.”

“Is extraction already necessary? Was I right and it was a trap?”

“I would’ve opened with a declaration of you being right if it was a trap,” Cecilia replied, moving Cloak about the forest and listening to Amaryn track the Shrine’s energy with her location. “No. The forest…it’s strange. There are perfect crawl spaces for a Tenno skilled in stealth. Where the Grineer are clogged on the landscape, I would say I’m moving almost too fast with Cloak. It’s too…easy.”

“Mmmmm…” With Simaris, it was easy to imagine great cogs turning as he paused for thought and analysis. “You’re proposing that the witch is wrong and that her Silver Grove has been adjusted by Orokin hands.”

“Perhaps not Orokin hands…perhaps Tenno hands. The forest resembles the gardening plans I had been drawing up for the clan — a natural obstacle course almost made to confuse opponents and cloak those with Tenno training. Perhaps someone beat me in creating such a defense system.” Cecilia tsked. “The problems when one is put to sleep for annoyingly long amounts of time.”

“I can lodge a formal complaint with the Lotus-”

“Not neces-”

Simaris copied her tsk. “Operator Cecilia, I was _joking_.”

Cecilia felt her face flush inside the Transference pod. “I see. I…I was not expecting that.”

“If I’ve learned anything from your antics, it is how to deliver the unexpected.”

“It seems you have, if you’re teasing me in such a manner. Be careful, it suggests you feel some kind of fondness for me.”

“Bah, I can still eject you.” Cecilia could tell it wasn’t even a half-hearted jab. “There simply remains no practical reason for such an action.”

“I see. My mistake then. I shall return my diligent focus upon the Shrine, as Cloak is about to enter it.”

“And I shall keep the Scimitar in orbit while you fuss with plants and rocks of all things.”

Cecilia rolled her eyes, letting her attention sink back into Cloak and unmuting herself.

Amaryn made a pleased hum, actively smiling on the video feed of the communication channel. “Here, can you feel it? You found the Shrine.”

“It is a beautiful location,” Cecilia replied, letting her attention drift up the twisting waterfalls in the center of the room and to the carefully stacked pile of stones at the top of the cliff in the middle of the room.

“Anoint it with your Apothic, Crow’s Sister.” Amaryn sounded breathless, her volume low and voice faint. Cloak bullet-jumped up to the top of the cliff, disrupting the small organisms that were resting on the Shrine. Cecilia scanned them when they rested, Simaris supplying the word for what they were — butterflies. But the pause in how Simaris answered, as if something about them were wrong…it created a trail for Cecilia to investigate after the Silver Grove was saved.

Cloak removed the apothic from her stores, taking the small bio-bottle and gently pouring the dark blue syrup onto the rocks. She kneeled before the Shrine, watching the syrup drip down the rocks. Amaryn was silent, the call filled with only Amaryn’s soft breathing that signaled she was far _too_ close to the microphone she was using, but perhaps that was born out of a desire to be here rather than Cloak, to watch this process with watching the dark blue syrup drag itself down to the ground. The minute the syrup hit the grass underneath the rocks, the ground began to shake and Cloak rose to her feet, going invisible once more.

It was like the trees around her are creaking themselves as a voice groans. “What...do...you...think...you're...doing?” The ground rumbled, a rock at the pool of water below the cliff Cloak stood on cracked open with a slow hiss and light grey-green smoke pooled out of it slowly. “The sun in my skin...my voice is the wind.” Cecilia felt her heart leap to her throat. “I'm lost...in this soil. Why?”

“Did you hear that?” Amaryn muttered, “Unbelievable, the Grove, it speaks! My heart-” She paused, “Wait... a new Apothic! We will learn its recipe, forage its ingredients. The Grove needs this. New Loka needs this. It's time to-wait.” The smoke that had been emanating from the rock below began to take form, solidifying into a familiar shape — Cecilia almost thought it was Vernon’s Dagger, already composing an angry message before her HUD identified the shape as a Specter.

A Loki Specter, specifically a Knave. Its green skin lightly coated in moss, one of the butterflies sitting upon one of the horns of its helmet. Immortal Specters give opponents the typical toolkit of the Warframe, but some experiments could be done to alter specific Warframes during the Specter process. Vernon was Cecilia's main source of information on the mutations of the Knave Specter — mostly in criticisms.

“Stupid, spends too much energy making numerous copies,” Vernon snorted, a ghostly vision in Cecilia's dream. Cloak notched an arrow, following the movements of the Specter with a keen focus and watching it split into six copies. “Doesn't even make a difference, Cecilia! You can spot the real one by its slower movements, the Specter has a hard time managing all those copies! Ugh, lazy, stupid, it's too ambitious! It's not Loki, it's just Mirage with an invisibility feature and an Archemedian’s wet dream for one mind controlling multiple units in different directions and shit. Gets too loud too quickly. Shitty wizard shit. Immortal Loki specter are where it's at, if you have to use specters at all. S’got the good old Loki reliability.”

“Tenno-”

“ _Quiet_ , Amaryn, I am focusing,” Cecilia snapped, Cloak going stock still as the Knave specter and its clones moved about, spreading out to search for her. The green light spiraled between the Knaves, connecting them all together. She watched them move, pulling back the arrow and holding it for one moment, focus bouncing from each of the Knaves until she could spot that slowness, Vernon’s words bouncing back in her memories with Vernon’s green eyes and lips quirked in an arrogant grin over a video feed chat as they talk about how to watch for the slowness, bringing a hand up to their face in the video feed and mimicking the slow grace of what would be the theoretical tick to look for and then Cecilia sees it.

Cloak takes the shot. The forest screams, “Intruder! You should not be here!” The arrow flies. It passes through the Knave clones. And it hits the original Knave.

The hooked arrow landing in the middle of the head, the weaponized scanning arrow turning the Knave into digitized data in a flurry of Sanctuary orange pixels. Cloak added another arrow to its chest to speed the process, holding out her bow to capture the data. Her work with Simaris — of turning weapons into scanners to capture targets rather than killing them — proving to be useful even in dissolving the Knave specter to study later. The data would prove useful in weaving modification units together, tracing old technologies to make new mods for warframes and weapons.

The Knaves, without their head, dissolved into green smoke. Cloak turned visible. The forest was silent as Cloak gathered the arrows as Amaryn spoke.

“We are pure and true! Forgive our intrusion. Will you accept our protection?"

The Daughter of the Willow received only silence as Cloak stood still. The forest had settled and the only sounds registering was the distant crackle of Scorchs’ fire and the water trickling down the cliff.

“Well. This was interesting,” Cecilia slowly replied, turning her voice filter to lower pitches to mask her curiosity as suspicion.

“I swear to you, Tenno Sister of Crows, this was not planned.”

“No.”

“No?”

“It wasn’t in your cards. Not your Modus Operandi. Trick me, then lead me to a secluded grove without an audience to see what happens to all those that stand in the path of New Loka? Why, the sun’s beams must be arrows shot down upon those who do not adhere to doctrine, thus everyone must see the light that bleeds from my corrupted body as New Loka makes me see-”

“Alright. You don’t have to recite the recorded messages, I wanted to clear the air.”

“The air is clear. A rather nice shade of blue beyond the smoke.”

“Yes, yes, leave and craft the new apothic! We must wake the Silver Grove to defend itself from these twisted Grineer!”

* * *

“Cecilia-”

“Oh?” Cloak tipped her head up in a playful manner matching Cecilia’s voice. “No title? Must be serious.”

“-before, I had my problems with this mission due to your client being that of a previous enemy. Now I have my problems with the mission because neither of you know what you’re doing. Neither. Of. You.”

“How so? With the apothics application being that we’re shoving chemicals into a machine we don’t know the origins and purpose?”

“I.” Cecilia stifled a snicker as Simaris stumbled a moment. “Yes. That. That right there.”

“I’m just as scared as you are,” Cecilia replied, gently putting Cloak’s hand along the inside of the Scimitar near the Codex unit. “But all great discoveries have a bit of adventure and unknown to them. It’s just part of the process.”

“Yes, yes, we’re both aware of that. But…I found something strange in the data of the Nightfall Apothic recipe. I was looking it over, copying it to Sanctuary’s reserves when I noticed a strange lump of data, weaving and swirling like a shark. A hidden journal log.”

“Well, well, well, that’s the sort of thing I like to have popped on me,” Cecilia replied, Cloak’s hands slowly rubbing together. “A journal of whom? A crazed Grineer explorer, slowly suffocated by the vines of the Grove? A team of Corpus surveyors, slowly driven mad by the lack of credits around them? A Tenno-”

“Operator, if you propose they go mad, I will be forced to waste time evaluating the nutritional supply given to your Transference pod to see if something has gone moldy to cause this…this odd line of thinking.”

“Simaris, you can’t blame a girl for being giddy about a mystery.”

“I can if it seems that giddiness is blinding all sense of decorum and caution.”

Cecilia cleared her throat. “Cephalon Simaris, if you could please be so kind to transfer the data of the journal-”

“It’s in the Codex console, you overtly playful witch. I’m keeping a copy for the Sanctuary.”

“Thank you, Cephalon Simaris.”

Cloak moved to the Codex console, swiping and taping at what she needed to find it. She hit play.

“My bags are packed, I'm all set to leave! I can't believe I'll be working with one of my childhood heroes, Archimedian Margulis! On comms, she said she needed the best Infestation biologist there was...I think my knees almost gave out!”

Cecilia cross-referenced names with logs, seeing the name Marguilis pop up from Fyodor and Vernon’s reports of their adventures getting Earth’s moon out of the Void. The mother of the Tenno…her reach was rather something else if she influenced this person as well.

“As I log this, I'm looking out the stained plastic of my field tent into the dead-yellow sky of Earth. I smell the vague sulfur and toxins leaking through the seals, yet somehow I'm going to miss this place. Leaving Her feels like I'm giving up on my dream. My dream to see green and blue return to this sick and dying mother of us all…but I'm frustrated with my lack of progress. I've tried everything to accelerate the ailing vegetation, to guide and nurture the soil, but nothing comes of it. I need a change. Now I have that opportunity, and thanks to Margulis, I'm relieved I won’t be drafted into some Orokin War Project.”

Cecilia tapped the wall of the ship. “I don’t understand-”

“You cannot tell Amaryn. Swear to me that you will not.”

“I swear, Simaris, if you think it necessary, I will not tell her about this-”

“There is an intense neural network underneath the Silver Grove. It’s sloppy compared to the system in the ship, but-”

“You’re saying that this person, this biologist-”

“She’s wearing the forest like you wear that Ivara, yes. I believe the woman behind this journal entry is using Transference to use the forest to defend itself, hence explaining the chemical processes and the specters.”

Cloak sat back, the tip of her “feathered” hat brushing against the Codex console. “Interesting…then we have more to fight for.”

“Yes-what?”

“This woman is a surviving biologist from the time of the Orokin, Simaris. Imagine what _samples_ she has, what _knowledge_ she knows! Why, it would accelerate our technological reclamation project by entire _decades_! And there may be more surviving scientists, using Transference to defend planets!” Cloak sprung up. “We simply have to hurry!”

“I hate it when you say that.”


End file.
